Honouring the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean

I have just found some audio feeds about “religion” in the ancient Mediterranean by Philip A. Harland. From what I have heard so far in 4.1: “Introduction to Honouring the Gods,” it sounds interesting. Harland spends a lot of time in this episode discussing the modern individual as an “outsider” and its implications for studying ancient polytheistic religions, along with talking about the polytheistic world view and the definition of religion.

While not focused exclusively on ancient Hellenic Polytheism, I do think that a lot of the topics addressed in the blurbs of this podcast series are relevant and could prove useful for modern Hellenistai. If you want to check it out, go to Podcast Archive for the feeds. You want to focus on 4.1 to 4.6, as much of the earlier seasons focus on Yeshua and early Christianity.

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Earth Day and Gaia/Ge

Earth, who is mother of all, shall I sing on her noble foundation;
Eldest is she and she feeds every thing that exists in the world, all
those that inhabit the glorious surface of earth and the deep sea,
Plus those that fly in air―they are fed, every one, from your bounty!

~ Homeric Hymn XXX “To Earth, Mother of All” (Daryl Hine, ed.)

Earth Day happens this Wednesday (22 April 2009). While there are many things we should remain aware of―rising carbon dioxide and methane levels in our atmosphere, overfishing, a human population too large for the world to support―consider taking a moment or two of your time on Wednesday to honor Ge (Gaia), the goddess who is the fertile Earth upon whom all of us live and depend. I know that I will be making libations to Ge come Wednesday.

“But what is Ge's significance to the faith? Don't we have the twelve/thirteen Olympian Gods to whom we sacrifice?” Interesting question. Ge is a goddess to whom we can make oaths, as shown by a fragment from Solon: “I will have as my best witness the mighty mother of the Olympian gods, dark Ge” (Gaia Witness of Oaths, Theoi.com). Frequently, people swear oaths to many deities at once, and Ge finds frequent inclusion. Ge is also associated with oracular powers and the dead.

“Okay,” you say. ”I think I can get the hang of this whole Ge-worship thing. What should I do?” Sacrifice. Make offerings. Libate (choe, not sponde). To Ge one may sacrifice dark-colored animals because she is a Chthonic deity. Perhaps pumpernickel bread would suffice in modern times as a bloodless replacement. The Orphic Hymn to the Earth recommends offering powdered frankincense. Realistically, considering the budgetary constraints brought on by the current economic situation, anything dark―black votive candles and coffee included―could be made into an offering provided that the worshipper is sincere. You could even consider offering Theobroma.

I hope that this gives you enough to consider if and when you decide to give a few minutes of your time to Ge on Wednesday. “We're not an Earth-based religion,” a few still say, “and honoring Ge makes us look like Neopagans!”―tough. Ge is a Goddess, so even if we claim to be more deity-centric than many modern pagan or polytheistic faiths, you cannot refuse to honor her. Remember again the Homeric hymn: “He is happy whom you in your humor / willingly honor, for everything then will be his in abundance” (HHXXX, ln. 7-8).

Besides, guys, Ge can make sickles. And we all know what happens when you go up against that.

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Hellenistai Forum, Mounikhia

Ruadhan over at Urban Hellenistos/Of Thespiae and Fiamma from Memories of Pain and Light have teamed up as moderators on a new forum, Hellenistai (you can read more from Ruadhan here). If you want a neutral, casual forum in which to discuss Hellenic topics of any sort, consider joining.

According to HMEPA, Mounikhia begins at sundown on Saturday evening, the day of the festival itself coinciding with the Christian Easter this year. I will present some sites that focus on Mounikhia. If you have a Mounikhia ritual that you would like to point me to, please do so in the comments.

• Mounikhia Ritual - Timotheos
  
• Short Explanation of festivals in Mounikhion - Sarah Kate Istra Winter
• Mounichia - Wikipedia
• Generic Ritual Outline - Kyrene (included if you are unsatisfied with the one provided by Timotheos)
  

I will be celebrating Mounikhia with a few non-Hellenistai; if I remember my camera, I will be sure to post some pictures.

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Menstruation and Miasma: A Blog-Based Response

In a recent statement on miasma and purification, Timothy Jay Alexander stated that “all organic fluids (blood, semen, menstrual fluids) and bodily excretions that cause you to be unclean then also causes [sic] Miasma.” I disagree that menstrual fluids are a big deal, not because I claim that this attacks women's place in religion, but because I am a good feminist who believes that proper hygiene can prevent or mitigate most miasma-based problems associated with the cycle.

My first counter to this argument is by questioning the statement “all organic fluids.” People excrete fluids all the time; this is a simple fact of life. We have saliva (which hopefully stays inside our mouths where it belongs). We have waste products and sexual fluids. We bleed. We sweat. Certainly, we should come before the Gods with the greatest degree of cleanliness we can, but some things are unavoidable. Few would chide a person with allergies for not draining their sinuses before giving cult to a Theos. Few would say that the sweat excreted to cool the body during sacred games and in the gymnasium creates ritual impurity. Why does menstruation have to be so different?

Before I continue, I will warn the reader that I am about to talk about the female menstrual cycle in greater detail. Let me also say to those women who experience debilitating pain during menstrual cycles, pain that causes vomiting and days home from school/work, that you probably shouldn't give cult to deities who are not associated with healing or feminine health until you feel better. The state of mind that accompanies continuous pain is not conducive to cooking dinner, let alone performing a Hellenic ritual. Not having experienced this special pain personally (which is illogical considering family history, so it must be Artemis's doing), you are free to disagree. At least make sure that you aren't on enough pain meds to make yourself a fire hazard.

The female menstrual cycle is not just defined by menses, but follows a pattern of accumulation and discharge over a roughly twenty-eight day period. Not only do women have menses, but around ovulation the body also secretes a clear mucous (and if it's not clear, go see your gynecologist NOW). If every bodily secretion makes a woman contract miasma, this means that we cannot worship for up to two weeks every month, more if you count any bleeding/irritation that happens internally. This is impractical.

It is my personal belief that, providing you maintain proper hygiene (showering daily, changing pads/tampons regularly to prevent odor, washing), most Theoi won't care. In Ancient Greece, people didn't have Always®, Stayfree®, or Tampax®. They didn't even have Keepers. It was a lot more difficult to maintain an acceptable level of personal hygiene. No wonder so many cultures (the Israelites, Egyptians, many Native American groups, Hellenes, to name a few) created ritual taboos!

Personally, I shelve “no worship during menses” with “women contribute absolutely no genetic material to their offspring”: okay if you live in Ancient Greece, but out of phase with modern reality. Some women, however, may discover that they feel better abstaining from worship completely or worshiping only female deities. It really depends on the circumstances and the mindset of the practitioner.

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A Poem for Hera

Before you read the poem, there are some background things you should know about my interpretation of Hera. You will notice in a few moments that I refer to Hera once as having three aspects. This is based on several sources. Firstly, when we look at her epithets, we see that she does have several that fall into set categories. Hera is parthenos, virgin; gamelia, of marriage; and khera, the widow (source here). Buxton states that “in the Boiotian city of Plataea, where she had, Pausanias reports, two statues, one as Numpheuomene ('Bride') and one as Teleia ('Consummated')” (Complete World of Greek Mythology, 70). If we go directly to Pausanias, which we can do through the Perseus collection, we see a similar statement about Hera's cult:

The story has it that in the old Stymphalus dwelt Temenus, the son of Pelasgus, and that Hera was reared by this Temenus, who himself established three sanctuaries for the goddess, and gave her three surnames when she was still a maiden, Girl; when married to Zeus he called her Grown-up; when for some cause or other she quarreled with Zeus and came back to Stymphalus, Temenus named her Widow. This is the account which, to my own knowledge, the Stymphalians give of the goddess (Pausanias 8.22.2).

As such, the “triple goddess” designation in my poem serves more to relate Hera to the cycle of a woman's lifestyle than to make her conform to a modern female trinity; Hera has many epithets, not all of which fit into these categories. That I do not discuss all of them is simply my choice as a poet.

You will also notice that I relate Hera to air and use a lot of that terminology. I have read in places that Hera is associated with air (and if you can tell me where, I will thank you), and I like this association because, again, it allows me to take Poetic License with something I read in an online text, “Summary of Pythagorean Theology I: Introduction,” in which Hera and Zeus are likened to the Craftsman and Nurse who create the world and the order of the gods. (In fact, I like this story slightly more than some traditional myths because there is a greater degree of gender balance.) Finally, if some of the language sounds weird, I am likely making some scientific reference to the electrostatic breakdown of air or the necessity of oxygen.

“Hera”

You may know me from the sweep
of plains and the lowing animals,
cuckoos singing, nesting in baskets.
From me comes youth and discord.
From me all is born and fashioned.
From me you draw your first breath.
Look for me in the billowing white
bridal veil, the confetti of rose petals
falling on the floor, bruised underfoot.
For me you prepare wooden baskets.
For me you raise the goat's neck to cut.
For me you scatter the sacred barley.
Build my temples from windswept
beach sand, bear icons that call me
virgin, queen of heaven, and widow.
In me flit the birds and toys of steel.
In me the electrostatic charges meet.
In me lies damnation and salvation.
Long before you worshiped me,
I gave birth: lightning passed through
me to strike primordial waters.
I am exhalation and inhalation.
I am the weight of the jungle air.
I am the humidity kissing your skin.
Know that I claim Rhea as mother,
Zeus the Thunderer as my co-ruler,
And my sons and daughters are many.

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Hermes Nyarlathotepos

Many people have heard of the Nyarlathotep of Lovecraftian mythology, but few know its roots in and implications for the cult of Hermes. The deities have many similar functions in their respective pantheons, and the basic cultus offered to each deity follows standard relationship development models of offerings and favors. By looking at these similarities, we can arrive at a proper way to syncreticise the two deities.

When we look at the functions of the two deities, we see that Hermes frequently takes the title “Messenger of the Gods.” One of Nyarlathotep's central functions in the Lovecraftian pantheon also fulfills a messenger role; he does the work of the Elder Gods who remain asleep or exiled. Both Hermes and Nyarlathotep delight in deception: one is the God of Thieves, and the other enjoys manipulating people to serve his worldly motives. Hermes is credited with the creation of human language; Nyarlathotep prefers to speak in human languages with his followers, the exact opposite of the other Elder Gods. These relationships between the two deities prove that they can be treated as essentially the same, but as different cultural expressions. The Theos who is both Hermes and Nyarlathotep, once Hellenism declined, obviously found a new medium through which he could communicate his vital religious role.

As far as worship goes, worshipers give cult to each deity in traditional reciprocal forms. One cultivates a relationship with the deity by making offerings and accepting assistance. One can argue that Nyarlathotep-worship has retained blood sacrifice, though, because worship conditions and spiritual emphasis remain different. In rituals for Nyarlathotep, many members remain aware of their transgressive outreach towards deities that have knowledge and forms that will drive the follower insane; blood sacrifice reflects the greater personal risk. Hermes and the Hellenic Theoi have more connection and grounding in reason, and the bloodless offerings reflect modern constraints; many do not give blood sacrifice because they lack training in humane slaughter. This is a non-issue for Nyarlathotep devotees.

With all of these similarities, why not syncreticise Hermes and Nyarlathotep? After all, a part of moderation and reason is about balance, and the maddening qualities of Nyarlathotep could be beneficial to the deity and worshiper in a Hellenic context. To test out some devotions to this composite deity for yourself, I suggest the following:

1. Purification through ritual washing.
2. Brief meditation on the place of madness and manipulation.
3. Hymn to Hermes Nyarlathotepos: “God of Madness, Trickster and Manipulator of Humans, hear me! Let us solidify our relationship through this worship and these offerings. Please give me the correct frame of mind to deal with this Trickster Day and assist me in any endeavors to bring the joy of the season to others.”
4. Give some kind of offering.
   
5. Thank Hermes Nyarlathotepos.

Happy First of April!

Sources
Wikipedia: Nyarlathotep - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyarlathotep
ChthulhuWiki: Nyarlathotep - http://www.yog-sothoth.com/wiki/index.php/Nyarlathotep

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